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Filmmakers create movies. Bloggers report the news and shape public opinion. Explorers travel the globe, seeking out new cultures and sharing experiences. DJs and producers craft beats and tracks using an alchemical mix of audio artifacts and imagination. Rappers fashion rhymes and navigate the cadences of vocal delivery characterized as “flow.”
Blue Scholars do all these things—and a hell of a lot more—every damn day. First and foremost, DJ/producer Sabzi and MC Geologic are a music group. They do the fundamental things bands have done for decades: Make records and play live shows. But those are just points on a plane, bright stars in Blue Scholars’ ever-expanding universe. “It all revolves around using everything at our disposal to be good storytellers,” says Sabzi. Chuck D famously likened hip-hop to CNN, but frankly, Blue Scholars make Anderson Cooper and company look lazy by comparison.

Blue Scholars informally call their music “cinema art rap,” yet most folks will probably just hear it as smart 21st century pop. The duo is just as likely to take inspiration from the sugar rush of Empire of the Sun’s feel-good hit “Walking on a Dream” (check out the “Empire Remix” of “New People”) as from a classic Lalo Schifrin soundtrack. The roster of former Seattle Sonics or observations about Fox New commentators may provide the springboard for their next round of poetic musing.

Meanwhile, Blue Scholars are constantly churning out new missives as quickly as the inspiration hits them, disseminated via the Internet. Whether provoked by current events like the passage of Arizona’s Immigration Law SB1070 (“Joe Arpaio,” credited to Geo’s alter-ego Prometheus Brown), or contemplating how the Future went from a sparkling wonderland of flying cars and personal jet packs to a post-apocalyptic wasteland shot in shades of ash and bone (“Paul Valéry”), Blue Scholars react to real events in real time—with music that sounds fresh because it is.

Since 2002, Blue Scholars have been based in the 98118, decreed the most ethnically diverse zip code in America by the 2010 Census. Like the greater Seattle region, that neighborhood embodies the multi-cultural miasma that spawned Blue Scholars, the joining of forces between an Iranian DJ/producer and a Filipino rapper. These are dudes who nourish their bodies with Vietnamese coffee, Ethiopian injera, and steaming bowls of phở. Thanks to music, they have mingled with guests at a party hosted by renown glass artist Dale Cihuly, and conducted workshops at a Colorado juvenile detention center.

“I feel very lucky,” admits Sabzi. “So many people are in their own fishbowl, thinking they know what the world is, but never get the opportunity to see anything beyond their immediate environment. We’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to establish real human connections with people we’ve discovered aren’t really any different from us, because music has broken down the superficial barriers that would otherwise keep us apart.”

Blue Scholars actively contribute to the global community of artists and freethinkers in myriad ways. Drawing on Jamaican dancehall culture and the increasingly popular medium of artist mix tapes, Sabzi makes the instrumental foundations of all their songs available as individual riddims, to be adopted and adapted by whomever cares to use his beats. Meanwhile, every time they hook up with another artist, be it Seattle rapper Macklemore (Sabzi’s reworking of his Emerald City celebration “The Town” extended the shelf life of an already hugely popular joint) or Los Angeles’ Bambu, their network expands. New fans find Blue Scholars via new points of entry, and in turn, Blue Scholars discover more fodder for their imaginations.
Towards that end, and meeting more kindred spirits in the real world, Sabzi currently divides his time between New York and Seattle. How has that impacted Blue Scholars’ creative process? Not at all. Even as students at the University of Washington, where they first met and began making music together, Sabzi and Geologic were using the Internet as an integral part of their routine. The former would make a beat, upload it to the server, his partner would download it and write rhymes… and then they’d record together. They do the same thing today, just across bigger geographical distances.

Since 2002, the duo has become renowned live show veterans, rocking over 400 shows with the likes of Kanye West, De La Soul, Nas, Common, and supporting such acts on tour Zion-I, Hieroglyphics, and the Coup on tour. They’ve also played labor organizing conferences and youth-run community center shows, the main stage at Sasquatch! (2006 & ‘08) and Bumbershoot (2006), and in 2007 headlined their own Northwest Hip Hop festival, “The Program,” which sold out five nights in a row. Their discography includes the albums Blue Scholars (2004) and Biyani (2007), as well as the EPs The Long March (2005), Joe Metro (2007), BUTTER&GUN$ (2008), and OOF! (2009).
But enough about the past. What are Blue Scholars doing right now? Find out for yourself at www.bluescholars.com.

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, MC Grynch first discovered Hip-Hop in elementary school when a classmate let him borrow a cassette tape of Dr. Dre's classic, The Chronic. From that point on, it was a wrap as he became completely immersed in Hip-Hop music and culture. It wouldn't be long before Grynch would try his hand at writing rhymes himself at the age of 10.

He spent the next few years working on his craft and released his first project, an EP, during his senior year of high school in 2004. Its release was limited but it generated a buzz big enough for more than a few people to take notice of Grynch's potential as an artist.

Drawing inspiration primarily from his life experiences, he has since released three full-length albums (2005's This Is What I Do, 2008's My Second Wind, 2012's Perspective), three EPs (2008's Something More, 2009's Chemistry, 2011's Timeless) and a slew of mixtapes. His latest album, Perspective, was released in March of 2012. It features production from the likes of Jake One and Budo and appearances by the likes of Brother Ali, Bambu and Sol. It is considered to be his most personal and focused work to date.

Backed by DJ Nphared, Grynch is no stranger to performing either and has shared stages with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Nas, Warren G, Little Brother, Slick Rick, Macklemore, Grieves and Blue Scholars.

A collaboration between Xperience and producer MTK, The Revelations [EP] (2013), is a dynamic new sound that XP has been searching for. Blending Hip-Hop, Neo-Soul and Gospel he presents a powerful and healing sound to the genre. A spiritual journey, The Revelations is an analog to XP overcoming his own hardships. He presents himself to the greater good of his community and allows his music to represent his authentic self. A wake-up call from a deep and dark sleep.

XP was able to raise over $3000 in less than two weeks through a Kickstarter campaign to fund the video. We are filled with gratitude and joy to see that his fanbase would come through with such immense support.

After touring with with Macklemore X Ryan Lewis for the last two years (2011 & 2012) Xperience has been releasing a stream of new media and is hard at work on several other projects. On their 2012 Heist World Tour they hit 41 cities in 60 days. His recent music video release “New Religion” has gained almost 15,000 hits in its first three days on YouTube.

Xperience was featured on Macklemore’s album Language of My World, and has worked with artists like Casual & A-Plus (Hieroglyphics), Grayskul (RhymeSayers), Grammy Finalist Q Dot, Bizarre (of D12) and Sleep (The chicharones). He’s opened for Macklemore, Snoop Dogg, Kool Keith, KRS-One, Hieroglyphics, Bone Thuggs n-Harmony, Bilal, Brother Ali, Atmosphere and others. He is part of the Northwest Hip-Hop crew Oldominion, working with the likes of Onry Ozzborn & JFK of Grayskul, Smoke and others.

Will Glazier is WillDABeast. A founding member and leader of the local soul stable, Snug Harbor, Glazier has reinvented his performing persona to become one of the newest additions to the exploding West Coast music scene by blending the carefully composed synthetic sounds of electronic music and the irreplaceable authenticity of live musicians in a unique way thats is entirely his own. Glazier’s project is the culmination of more than a decade of performing as a live musician, blowing his trumpet in many genres nation-wide...

Akira is a group created by producers and musicians, Adam Boulesbaa and Adam Clark while they both attended the University of Denver. Akira is a unique blend of hip/hop and drum and bass/dubstep that contains and exemplifies an atmospheric feel. Separately Adam Clark and Adam Boulesbaa have different backgrounds and styles that greatly compliment each other. Adam Boulesbaa is a Hip Hop producer from the Washington DC area who moved out to Colorado last year. Out in DC he has played at a number of shows and beat battles. In addition to this, his music has been featured on notable hip hop sites such as 2dopeboyz and NahRight. Stylistically, a lot of Adam Boulesbaa’s music is reminiscent of 90's golden era hip/hop but it also carries many influences from bands like M83 and ThreeSixMafia. As far as producing goes, Adam has been fortunate enough to work with a number of underground acts including (Talib Kweli, Tayyib Ali, GLC , and Nickelus F). Adam Clark is a drum and bass/dubstep producer out of Minneapolis, Minnesota who migrated to Denver a year ago also, where he met Adam Boulesbaa. His music contains a unique blend of his classical piano background and guitar background. A symphony like atmospheric sound is much of what Adam’s electronic production includes, along with the grit of the mid 2000's dubstep and drum and bass. In Minnesota, Adam Clark has played many acoustic live shows in local venues. Along with playing piano and guitar, he plays a vast amount of other instruments and also sings.